Where will you be sitting to watch fireworks tonight? I just saw this fun layout in the Stampin’ Up! demonstrator Facebook group and had to make it my own. The Bokeh dots stamp set has a beautiful starry stamp perfect for fireworks. I added some red and white layers reminiscent of stripes and the celebrate sentiment from the Beautiful You stamp set. The chair of course is from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies.

Today’s Tips:

-People have had some trouble inking up this new photorealistic stamp set. Be sure that your ink pad is not too saturated. You can press the ink down with an acrylic block. There are two ways to ink up the stamp – lots of gentle tapping (and check to see that it is inked up). Or like in the photo, just lay the stamp down on the ink and gently press. There will be gaps and shadows that are built into the stamp itself – compare to the image in the catalog if you are unsure. Be sure to cut extra cardstock so you can play around. It is well worth the effort!

After all that work, you don’t want to mess up the sentiment. So I used the Stamparatus to stamp first on a window sheet to make sure that I had it lined up straight. Then I removed the window sheet and stamped my Bokeh Dots panel. Hmm I wonder how it would work to stamp the Bokeh Dots directly with the Stamparatus – I didn’t think to try that.

This is an awesome color combo for the 4th of July. These colors will be lovely for many summer projects.